Staff

Katherine B. Aoki

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Kate joined the Tobin Project in the summer of 2015. In her current role, Kate manages Tobin's operations and finances, contributes to the organization's strategic development, and works with the research team to advance Tobin's initiatives. Kate graduated magna cum laude with highest honors in History and a minor in Economics from Harvard University. In her senior thesis, she explored the relationship between work and gender by examining men’s work in American department stores in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Email: kaoki[at]tobinproject.org

Phone: (617) 547-2600

John Cisternino

DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH

John joined the Tobin Project in 2008 to cultivate rigorous, problem-oriented research aimed at understanding and addressing some of the most urgent challenges facing American society. He directs the Tobin Project’s research activities throughout our four core initiatives and works with scholars across disciplines to develop new lines of inquiry. He also oversees our graduate student programs and corresponds with policymakers and thought leaders outside of academia to build new avenues for innovative scholarship that contributes to public discourse, policymaking, and civic education. John is the co-editor of New Perspectives on Regulation (The Tobin Project, 2009) with David Moss. He holds a B.A. magna cum laude from Tufts University; a J.D. from Harvard Law School; and an M.A. and M. Phil in philosophy from Columbia University where he taught courses in formal logic, philosophy, and literature.

Email: jcisternino[at]tobinproject.org

Phone: (617) 301-8923

David Cruikshank

OPERATIONS MANAGER

David joined the Tobin Project in the summer of 2017. Currently, he assists with Tobin's operations and contributes to its Economic Inequality Initiative. David graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in psychology, focusing his studies on social psychology. His senior thesis examined links between women in STEM and in philosophy, and specifically explored whether women experience stereotype threat in philosophy.

Email: dcruikshank[at]tobinproject.org

Phone: (617) 547-2600

Emma Kromm

RESEARCH ANALYST

Emma joined the Tobin Project in the summer of 2018 as a part of the Economic Inequality and Institutions of Democracy initiatives. Emma graduated with a B.A. from Harvard College with high honors in Social Studies. Her senior thesis explored the effects of meritocratic sorting on the economic attitudes of elite college students. Previously, Emma worked as a Reporter at the Institute for Southern Studies and as a Director’s Intern in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior.

Email: ekromm[at]tobinproject.org

Phone: (617) 547-2600

Keri Lambert

CASE WRITER

Keri joined the Tobin Project in the summer of 2019. She collaborates with scholars to develop new teaching materials that will facilitate case method teaching at the high school, college, and graduate levels. Keri graduated with a B.A. from Amherst College in 2013 and finished her PhD for the Department of History at Yale University in 2019. At Yale, she taught courses on African history and became interested in case-based pedagogy while completing a Certificate of College Teaching Preparation. Before beginning her graduate studies, Keri taught middle and high school students at the Northfield Mount Hermon Summer Session and studied global commodity chains as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow.

Email: klambert[at]tobinproject.org

Phone: (617) 547-2600

John Malague

RESEARCH ANALYST

Jack joined the Tobin Project in the summer of 2019, and works on the Institutions of Democracy initiative. Jack graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College with a major in Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought. His honors thesis dealt with the relationship between self-defense and the modern state in American and early English law. Before joining Tobin, he coauthored The Death Penalty on the Ballot: American Democracy and the Fate of Capital Punishment (Cambridge, 2019), which explores the history of death penalty referendum in the United States.

Email: jmalague[at]tobinproject.org

Phone: (617) 547-2600

Joel Michaels

RESEARCH ANALYST

Joel joined the Tobin Project in the summer of 2018 and currently works on the Economic Inequality and Government & Markets initiatives. Joel graduated with a B.A. with high honors from the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University. His senior thesis compared welfare state retrenchment across different post-industrial economies. Previously, Joel worked on labor policy issues for the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce.